Tag nominations are open now! It will work the same way it did last year, and here's last year's Tag Set to refresh your memory. aurilly will be in charge of tags again, so keep your eyes peeled for some posts from her.

Here is the TENTATIVE schedule for the exchange:

Tag nominations open: July 1stSignups open: Sometime between July 11th - July 13th (depending on how long it takes to get tags finalized)Signups close: July 23th - 25th (again, depending on tags)Assignments sent out: by July 29thFics due: anytime before August 31st Prompts Revealed/Madness: July 30th - September 18thMain collection opens: September 11thMadness collection opens: September 18thAuthors revealed: September 19th

Reasons for the tentativeness of this schedule:1) Getting tags finalized before the assignments go out2) This year I've split the opening of the collections, as suggested by a participant. You'll have the main collection open for a week, giving you time to read and send feedback, and then the Madness collection will open the following week, with the authors revealed the next day.3) I want to hear your opinions on that new way of opening collections and revealing authors. If most are in agreement, we'll proceed like that. If you want it changed back to opening the same day, we can go that way too. And if you prefer to wait a week between the collection opens and the author reveals, rather than a day, that can change too.

(If you don't have an LJ account, you can make your opinions known in the comments!)

As usual, Madness is not mandatory, but it's always fun. And if you choose not to participate in the Main Exchange and just in Madness, that's fine!

Obviously the exchange will not be double-blind (as it used to be in years past) and you will know who you are writing for. If people want to write "Dear NFE Writer" letters and post them on LJ/Dreamwidth/Tumblr/wherever, that is fine, but not mandatory! You can put everything you want in your signup, if you like.

In the past, you've been allowed to request crossovers, and fic set in other people's fanverses. You can still do that, but those will have to go in the optional details part of the signup. You cannot request crossovers and fanverses only, though, as your assigned writer may not be familiar with the other fandom/fanverse. So remember to include some canonical requests.

There will also be a box in the offer part of the signup where you, as a writer, can talk about what you like to write, and also put ONE OR TWO dealbreakers of what you can't write (for example, "no incest and I hate Edmund Pevensie"). Bear in mind that it would be extremely unlikely in this exchange for you to say, "I can't write slash" and then get matched to someone who only requests slash. Most participants offer several options of what they want, and I don't see this changing.

Finally: I will be having surgery at some point during the course of this year's exchange, and it's possible that I'll be out of commission when the time comes to open the collections. But fear not, aurilly will be around, and lady_songsmith has volunteered to help out, so nothing should go off course. Thanks to both of them for going the extra mile!

Okay, I think that's it for now. Go forth, nominate, and ask any questions you have and I will try to answer them! You can email me at narniaficexchange@gmail.com too.